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The house was bustling with energy, with seven people all trying to organize themselves while also sorting out the others. Kakashi, his students, and Gai's students were all very, very preoccupied with decorating Gai's house for his birthday at the moment. They had all been given tasks ahead of time by Kakashi, but things had devolved into chaos as everyone attempted to find the final touches as the clock ticked down Gai's arrival home.
“Where's the tape?!” Naruto yelled, using both hands to hold a poster up.
Lee rushed over, ducking underneath Sakura and Tenten's arms on his way, just narrowly avoiding knocking down the cake they were carrying. “I've got it here!” he called, taking a couple pieces off the roll and sticking the poster up.
Neji was going over a checklist, glancing up occasionally and marking things off as needed. Nose to the paper, he almost ran right into Tenten, jerking backwards just in time to avoid them, staring wide-eyed as they passed. Glancing at Lee who shrugged at him, he checked something else off on the list.
Kakashi directed the girls over to the table, helping them lower it down, even if they had it handled just fine on their own. Better to be safe than sorry when it came to this bunch. Glancing up at the clock, he grimaced. Only ten minutes left, and that was if Kurenai could keep Gai occupied for the set amount of time he'd asked of her. Realistically, he figured they only had about five minutes, max.
“Alright, everyone, is there anything else that we need to do? We have somewhere between five and ten minutes until Gai gets back with Kurenai, and that's being generous,” he called, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. “Neji, how's the list looking?”
“The only thing left is the balloons,” Neji said, glancing down at the paper in his hands. “And while I wish we had enough time to get those done, I really doubt we can, even with all of us working on it.”
“Forget it, then. We can figure something out later to do with them,” Kakashi replied, “Is that really all that's left? Other than finishing taping things up?”
Neji nodded, crumpling the paper up and dropping it into the trash. “Fucking finally. We should get the curtains and lights now, so we're not risking anything being seen at the last second.”
Everyone scattered at that. Lee, Naruto, and Sasuke all hurried to the front windows, yanking the curtains closed, while Sakura went around turning the lights off. Tenten and Neji both began scooping up any wrappers, packaging, or other trash around, tossing it into a large bag and tucking it away in the kitchen. Kakashi, meanwhile, went and re-locked the front door. With everything hurriedly tidied up and the house made to look empty, they all took up their hiding places, the younger shinobi fighting back giggles while doing so.
It had been a while since the war, and even if they'd all grown up, Kakashi still saw the kids they used to be shine through once in a while. They got chances, now, to be the kids they couldn't be before. The fact that it was Lee, with only minimal help from Neji and Tenten, who thought up the idea of a surprise party for Gai was proof of it.
And so they waited. Gai's team was all hiding behind the couch, while Naruto was tucked behind a chair, Sakura was just inside the door of the kitchen, Sasuke was sitting at the top of the stairs, and Kakashi was standing just off to the side of the door. It wasn't the stealthiest set up a group of war-hardened shinobi could have come up with, but it certainly was one of the best for a bunch of giggling party goers.
Not long after, Kakashi heard Gai and Kurenai's voices just outside of the door. He pressed a finger to his lips and shushed them, knowing they couldn't see him from their hiding places. The sound of the key in the lock made Kakashi's heart jump, anticipation and excitement heavy in the air.
As Gai entered the house, flicking the lights on, they all jumped out of their hiding places. A somewhat coordinated cheer of “happy birthday” rang out, Gai freezing in his footsteps.
Sasuke had slid down the stairs, sitting at the bottom of them, hands in the air. Gai's team had their arms over each others shoulders and were beaming as Lee pulled the cord on a small confetti canon. Sakura had nearly fallen over in her enthusiasm as she popped out of the kitchen, and Naruto had fallen over the back of the chair, landing on his back on the seat. There couldn't be a livelier scene from the bunch if they tried.
Kakashi had closed the door behind Gai, putting his arms over his fiance's shoulders, draping himself over the back of his wheelchair. “Surprised?” he asked with a grin.
As he expected, Gai almost instantly started crying once he realized what was happening. Everyone had come forward from where they had popped out of, Lee bringing over a box of tissues for his now retired teacher.
“Which one of you thought this up?” he asked, looking around him at all of them. He took the box of tissues, dabbing at his eyes as he set the box in his lap.
Lee raised his hand sheepishly, Tenten and Neji both patting his shoulders and pushing him forwards. Gai reached out, pulling him into a hug as Kakashi stood up straight once more. Once he let Lee go, he glanced up at Kakashi, watery smile still on his face. “You took the day off?” he asked.
“Of course I did. Did you really think I'd stay cooped up in that stuffy office on your birthday?” Kakashi retorted, “Do you want me to wheel you over to the table, or have you got it handled yourself?”
“I don't want to put my hands on my wheels while they're wet. Think you could do it?” Gai said, wiping his tear-dampened hands off on his legs, only managing to get lint stuck to them. Gai had managed to get more of his tears on his hands than on the tissues, somehow, but Kakashi didn't say anything more as he flipped up the handles on his wheelchair, pushing him forwards.
The rest of the party went exactly as Kakashi had expected it to. Neji and Lee had both teared up when the cake was cut, for wildly different reasons, and neither had admitted that they were even crying. Kakashi's own team broke out a game of twister, which Kakashi had happily taken up the roll of spinner for, not wanting to get involved with the mess that unfolded before him. Tenten had won, to the shock of absolutely no one. Lee had come fairly close, as had Sakura, but Tenten had moved faster than either of them when it came down to it.
As the evening came to a close, gifts opened and cake eaten, Gai bid farewell to the younger shinobi.
“You all sure are something else. You've all grown up to be fine people,” he said, looking around him at the bunch of them. “And I don't mean just fine shinobi. You've all got such warm, kind hearts, even after everything that you've all been through. I'm so proud of all of you.
“I don't think anything could be better than just... having everyone here today. We all made it. We're all alive.”
Tenten and Lee both threw an arm around Neji as he started to tear up again. He'd come very close to not being able to be there, back during the war. However, he had made it, and every time he was reminded of it, seemed to overwhelm him. Gai chuckled a bit, reaching out and patting his hand.
“However, everyone else here has work tomorrow, and it's getting late. I want to thank you all for this, from the bottom of my heart. I may be a year older, now, but I still feel as I did when I first met most of you, with everyone here like this. Youth is a state of mind, as I hope you all would know after this long of knowing me, and it's a state of mind I fall into much easier when around all the people I consider family, like this,” he said, “Now, get going, all of you. Get your rest, and rise with the sun in the true glory of your youth! Don't waste it, if not for yourselves, then for me!”
With Lee giving Gai one last hug, both teams wished Gai one last happy birthday on their way out of the house, leaving Kakashi and Gai waving them out.
Gai's house quiet once more, he slumped in his chair, exhausted but content.
“Pretty busy day, huh?” Kakashi said, leaning back against the front door. “You look ready to just go to bed.”
“That's because I am. Between Kurenai, and then the lot of you, that's got to be the busiest birthday I've had in a long time. Not that I'm complaining,” Gai said, looking up. “Can you grab me my crutches?”
Wandering over to the umbrella stand, Kakashi picked up the pair of crutches that Gai kept there for when he needed to go up or down the stairs. He had gotten the house before the war, and hadn't exactly thought about the layout until he got home after being released from the hospital. It wasn't a very... wheelchair friendly layout, to say the least. However, he managed, and he never really complained about it either, for whatever reason. It wasn't like Gai to be negative about things like that, Kakashi figured. He passed the crutches to Gai, who, after putting the breaks on on his chair, used them to push himself into a standing position. Balancing on one leg, he let Kakashi take the breaks off, and move the chair out of the way before setting up his crutches for use.
Kakashi tucked the chair aside at the bottom of the stairs, ready for when Gai got up the next day, before following him upstairs. He had practically moved in with Gai after the war, only using his own apartment as a place for his dogs to reside. He did go by daily, often for several hours a day, to make sure they were being taken care of, but he rarely slept there anymore.
In Gai's bedroom, the two got ready for bed silently, neither having much energy to spare after the day's events. Under the covers, they shifted closer to one another, Kakashi resisting the urge to slot their legs together as Gai pulled him close. For a while, there was only the sound of their slow, calm breathing that punctured the still silence of the room. However, Kakashi broke that, his mind continuing on the same path that it had been on earlier.
“What if I moved in?” he asked suddenly, staring at Gai sleepily.
Gai blinked at him. “What if you did?”
“I mean, would you want that, is what I'm trying to say. I basically live here anyways, and the only thing I use my apartment for is my dogs, and I don't think they really like living there on their own. If I brought them over here, as well as whatever stuff I've got left...” he said, trailing off as Gai's lips pulled into a soft smile. “We're already engaged, right? It's not like there's no reason for me to have that apartment still. It's just costing me money, now.”
Gai pressed forwards, capturing Kakashi's lips in a gentle kiss for just a moment. “I know I said earlier that there wasn't anything better than simply having everyone around for my birthday... but I think you just managed to beat that,” Gai said, pressing his forehead against Kakashi's. “Or at least you just got very close to beating it. Our house... I like the sound of that.”
“Our house...” Kakashi repeated, closing his eyes with a smile. “It definitely is a step up from the mouthful of 'my fiance's house that I sort of live at but don't, really.'”
A hum was all he got in response, Gai having started to doze off in his arms. Kakashi's smile widened. Oh well, the rest of the conversation could wait until tomorrow, he figured.
It's not like their tomorrows were limited, anymore.